Thursday, November 30, 2006

Spurrier to Alabama?

This rumor is juicy only because he's the biggest name in college football coaching (yes, ahead of Carroll, Weis, Meyer or any of them). Let's see... Pros: More money; more prestigious program. Cons: Dick move to S. Carolina. Yep: I think he'll go. Thoughts?

The big problem for any coach going to Alabama is the length of the leash he will be given. Shula gets Alabama through probation is without his most explosive wideout in Prothro and loses his 3 year starting QB in Croyle and still manages to win 6 games and were competative in their games against Florida, Auburn and UT. I think they should have given Shula at least 2 years to see how he would have done with the sanctions now lifted.

If Spurrier goes he will immediately make the program credible again but because he is Steve Spurrier he will be expected to win the SEC West next year. If he does get the job it will be fun to watch him antagonize Auburn. Spurrier antagonizing Auburn will be 100 times more fun to watch than anything he did to UT while at Florida.

I seriously doubt Spurrier leave. He prefers to build up a program. Remember Florida before Spurrier got there? Wasn't the prestigious program it is now. Also, Alabama is always getting investigated because of problems with alumni. Spurrier won't want to put up with taht. Besides, futurelegend is right, you have a very short time to succeed at Bama.

You all talk like winning is the most important thing. Spurrier will go where he gets paid more. That's how life works. Your family won't care in 50 years if you made SC into a national power. They'll care if they can purchase a yacht with the inheritance money.

And in 5 years he'll be talking to Al Davis thinking, "You know, I really think I have a better perspective on this NFL thing."

Dan, sometimes you just post stuff that no one really cares about except you. Spurrier? He's irrelevant. He left Florida a long time ago, sucked it up in the NFL, and hasn't really done anything at South Carolina. He hasn't been a good coach since he left Florida. Let it go!

Everyone who is down playing Spurrier as not being a big time coach is flat out wrong, and clearly knows nothing about SEC football.

Pete Carroll, Charlie Weis, Jim Tressel have only been at their schools and in some cases in College Football for a couple of years.

Spurrier is a legend in the SEC and has spent most of his carreer there as a player (Heisman Trophy Winner) and Coach.

To claim that he is less than or even go so far as to call him irrelevant is a joke. He built the Florida program and won at DUKE before that, and now he has SC challenging teams in the SEC every week.

With that said, where is there any indication that Spurrier is talking or even listening to Alabama. When does scooping the news and speculation just become rumor mongering?

How about some real information before we all go crazy with speculation. Geeze.

Spurrier is definitely a good coach. South Carolina had no business being in several games this year, yet they were competitive. I DON'T think Spurrier particularly cares about money at this point. I doubt he coaches more than 4 years and he'd have a much easier time at USC than PMS Univ.

Where arWhere are you guys located? Probably not from or around the South, the guy is still and will always be a HUGE name. Yes, talking head gush over Weis, Tressel, etc. They are good coaches and should be, however, your talking about the guy who CHANGED how college football was played at the major level, by implementing a large scale passing game. Before that it was three yards and a cloud of dust, everywhere. Yes there were some coaches that threw it around, but no one exploited defenses by taking shots down the field like he did. Give the guy talent he can out X and O anyone at the college level. And, even if he is hated, he’s still an iconic figure in the south. Sorry this isn’t relevant to many of you in the NE, MidWest, West Coast. But I can say that most people feel the same way about things those areas care about. I.E. – Yanks/Sox in the NE.

Didn't he say that he didn't want to coach somewhere with huge expectations? How, exactly, does Bama fit in with that. Shula was 10-2 LAST YEAR and got fired. You think the ol' ball coach wants to go through that?

He'll "listen", and then SC will up his salary, and he can stay there, play as much golf as he wants...and if he ever gets that team to 10 wins, it would be almost as good as winning another NC.

The article posted by rockchalk says they requested to talk to him. Who has to grant that request? SC? Spurrier?

I still think this is just rumor mongering until we know more. Nick Saban (!) was on the list as a possible candidate in the article. Evidently, the media in Alabama has the same illusions of grandeur as their fan base.

What's hilarious about this whole thing is that the media seems to have jumped at every chance to push Spurrier out of SC. First with a week long second-by-second report of Spurrier leaving to coach Miami, and now the SAME THING with Alabama.

Spurrier has gone on record as saying he has no interest in the job. He has a better chance at winning at SC anyway, mostly because he's already put in 2 years of work here. I seriously doubt he will toss his work in the toilet to go be the next coach eaten by Bear Bryant's shadow.

This underrated SC team is literally three batted up passes caught for TD away from being 10-2 and playing LSU in the SEC title game this weekend, rather than 7-5. All three of those losses were by 7 or less points. (Yes, I said LSU, because one of those wins would have put LSU ahead of Arkansas.)

I agree with what some of the posters that Carroll is a great recruiter but only a so-so coach. His rah-rah shit works in college because he only has the kids for 3 or 4 years (if they redshirt sometimes 5) and then they are gone by the time it gets old. He has also been blessed with some great assisstants (Chow, Sarkisian, Kiffin).

I just do not think he is a great coach, last year's Rose Bowl is a prime example. He is not nearly the in-game manager that a Stoops or Tressel are and if USC does play The Ohio State University Tressel is going to put on a coaching clinic against Carroll.

Pete Carroll and Mack Brown, to me are the most overhyped coaches in the country and with a couple of more years getting beat by the good teams on his schedule Charlie Weis will join them.

If we are talking golf courses here is the trump card. Spurrier is allowed to play Augusta because a board member at South Carolina is a member. He can also play the courses in Hilton Head and Charleston. So while the RTJ trail is a wonderful group of courses I think Augusta is probably the trump card if golf courses is a factor in his decision.

Hey All! Help this northern boy out. WHen did Alambama become better than SC in the last 10 years?? If I am Spurrier, I am not leaving SC only using the Bama job to get better facilities or a fatter contract. Am I wrong in this view??

On the way home from work, while listening to local sports talk radio, it was reported that a player from the team, speaking anonymously, said that Spurrier held a team meeting in which he told the players not to listen to "That Alabama talk", and he wasn't leaving. "We have a championship still to win."

Spurrier is overrated. Let's really look at this. He's had success at Duke and UF. Florida is a recruiter's paradise. North Carolina is not too bad either. If you want to determine a good college coach, you have to look at product on the field as well as recruiting. A couple examples would be Bob Stoops, Kirk Ferentz, or Barry Alvarez. Particularly Ferentz. I'm sure some of you are laughing right now, but take a look at this. Iowa traditionally is a pretty good football team. This year was a down year but they were competitive at the very least. They are perenially expected to compete in the Big Ten and that is because of Ferentz. Now, look at Iowa high school football. It sucks. I actually played high school football in Iowa and was a member of the semifinalist team in the second biggest class. Iowa high school players are NOT D-I type players. Ferentz has to get his players from out of state. And his teams do well. Stoops and Alvarez were the same way.

Spurrier isn't overrated for this reason: He alone as a coach wins 2-3 games a season, regardless of the quality of his players. He schemes and calls plays that frustrate the opposing team. SC in the last 2 years has beaten teams that thought they should have won, and they won those games ONLY because of Spurrier. Name another coach that wins games only because of the coach. Stoops wins because of better talent, Tressel wins because of better talent, Carroll wins because of better talent, Weis has mostly won due to playing weaker teams.

The only coaches that are on the level with Spurrier are those who win games with less, and NOBODY fits that description.

It's not his strength which is exactly my point. A good college coach not only produces a good product on the field, but he also must be a good recruiter. Recruiting in Florida or North Carolina is pretty damn easy compared to Iowa or Nebraska. The talent level just isn't as high.

Nothing was wrong with the product on the field at Florida. Those were good football teams. But Spurrier doesn't have to work to recruit good players. He's always had good location so he doesn't have to be a good recruiter. People like Ferentz have to be good recruiters and provied a good product on the field.

Recruiting and on-the-field product are factors in good coaching. If someone barely has to try because of location, he's not a good recruiter, therefore not a good coach.

Prefacing this by saying that I really dislike anything that has to do with football in the State of Florida...

Spurrier is NOT overrated!

The argument that since he's not as good as Kirk Ferenz, therefore he must be overrated is crap. Ferenz is great - but there can be more than one great coach in college football.

He would be a great get for Alabama, and instantly make them relevant again (much in the same way South Carolina is relevant and improving).

That being said, he's not going there. I agree with the poster who said that he's only doing this to leverage improvements at SC. he made a commitment to SC - he's got a good thing going - and most of all - THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL HE'D COACH IN BEAR'S SHADOW! HIS EGO is WAY TOO BG!

Let's face it. Iowa is not a fun place to be. There isn't much to do. There aren't nice sandy beaches within a days drive. It's cold in the winter. And there's nothing but cornfields all around. But somehow Ferentz manages to get top recruits to come to Iowa and then he puts a competitive team on the field.

1) Spurrier won an ACC title at Duke. DUKE! That was their only ACC title in the last 44 years.

2) Spurrier went 9-2 and finished 1st in the SEC with a 5th string QB,severely reduce amounts of scholarships (thanks to NCAA sanctions), and the team's only offensive weapon gone (Emmitt Smith) in 1990.

Ya, he hasn't made South Carolina a powerhouse, but the guy's past speaks for itself. He's a damn good college coach.

I cannot imagine Spurrier doing this. Unless he thinks the SEC East is too hard and recruiting is more annoying than he remembered.

He's got a great thing going at USC--he's loved for making the program relevant, the Outback Bowl is considered a great season, beating UF, UT, or UGA makes you golden, ...

I'll grant you that Alabama is more attractive than Miami, but he would not be loved there--these are proud SEC fans with their own traditions; they won't sell out to Spurrier too easily. A couple Outback Bowls and he--Spurrier!--would be fired. Lose to Auburn a few times (Spurrier never could consistently solve UF's big rival--FSU) and the boosters are calling for your head.

Absolutely no reason for him to do anything other than stay right where he is.

I've said it on the 500 other posts that Dan has made about Spurrier that none of us cared about - Alabama should only consider one name:

Romeo Crennel.

I've laid out the case for Crennel already in other posts and I think it's a no brainer. I don't think Spurrier will take the job he's just applying pressure to SC to get the facilities that he wanted upgraded.

They need new blood in the SEC - Is Spurrier going to be brought up everytime an SEC team has an opening?

Crennel - has the NFL connection (ala Weis, Carroll), he's got the Super Bowl rings so he has the pull with recruits, he's got charisma, players absolutely love playing for him (for the most part), and he's a defensive guy - something that'll come in handy in the SEC.

I've said it on the 500 other posts that Dan has made about Spurrier that none of us cared about - Alabama should only consider one name:

Romeo Crennel.

I've laid out the case for Crennel already in other posts and I think it's a no brainer. I don't think Spurrier will take the job he's just applying pressure to SC to get the facilities that he wanted upgraded.

They need new blood in the SEC - Is Spurrier going to be brought up everytime an SEC team has an opening?

Crennel - has the NFL connection (ala Weis, Carroll), he's got the Super Bowl rings so he has the pull with recruits, he's got charisma, players absolutely love playing for him (for the most part), and he's a defensive guy - something that'll come in handy in the SEC.

As a student at Alabama I can think of no better person for the job than Rich Rodriguez. He is the type of offensive mind we need.

All thew people talkign about it being "unfair" to fire Schula while under suspensions clearly didn't weatch the games. He won last year based on Joe Kines' schemes and the talent of defensive players he didn't recruit. This year his coaching lost us a MINIMUM of two games (Arkansas, LSU). He is too conservative for the modern SEC. He doesn't trust his quarterback (odd considering that he was a former quarterback) and is simply not a good enough coach to lead Bama to even playing for an SEC championship.

And to those saying we are looking for Bear 2.0, in 17 years we have fired only one coach (Schula) for on the field weaknesses. Stallings retired, Franchione left for Aggieland and Price and DuBose were fired for off the field issues (partying and NCAA violations respectively).

This was the move Bama needed to make.Now we need to get a guy with the balls to do something, Rodriguez, maybe Mike Leach from Texas Tech, Bobby Petrino would be a coup. Spurrier clearly fits in with that group and while I don't think he's more qualified than any of those three he gives a recruiting advantage and frankly I think he'd like the challenge to be enshrined in Alabama's coaching lore like Wallace Wade, Gene Stallings, or, yes, Bear Bryant. Plus he gets back in a true bloodfeud, age old rivalry with Tennessee. I know we're years away from being a national contender but we're not far away from being an SEC contender with a very young offense, a defensive identity which seems to exist whether we have the players for it or not and next year will be returning what could be the most talented three man wide receiver group in the South.

Well, whatever. Since I'm originally from Houston and follow the hapless Texans and the perennially disrespected Rockets (same number of wins as the spurs, best center in basketball, almost zero coverage) its nice to see my team mentioned on TV and the ebays regularly.

Alabama student do you think the reason those other guys left was they knew that their time at Alabama was going to be short (I am not counting Mike Price). When did Texas A&M become a football program that you leave Alabama for unless you knew that you time was going to be short unless you win like Bear.

Like I said earlier in the thread anyone who coaches at Alabama is going to have a short leash. I think they need to do what Oklahoma did when they got Stoops. Find a coordinator like Bo Pellini and give him 5 years realizing that there are going to be bumps but the reward will be worth it once Alabama matters outside the state of Alabama again.

Fran left to go to A&M for two reasons. One, Alabama was just hit with those sanctions, and he didn't want to be there during those times of reduced scholarships and no bowl games. Two, A&M was his 'dream job'. That's where he always wanted to coach, so he left as soon as he could.

f'nbryan is right in saying that the way that Shula coached this year warrented his dismissal. He's a GREAT head coach as the face of a program, but he's a very bad play caller.

I also think that Rich Rodriguez would be a better fit, not only for his offense, but for the potential years that he could give them.

It was easier to recruit at Duke than at Iowa because look at the home grown talent level in North Carolina. It's a lot better than the home grown Iowa talent. It's easier to get good players to stay in state. Iowa had a down year. Young receivers were their downfall. Too many dropped passes and too much Tate trying to do everythign. They;ll be back next year. Jake Christensen (another out of state recruit that Ferentz is awesome at getting) is a good young quarterback. Personally, I think he'll be better than Tate.

For everyone saying that it is easy to recruit at Duke because it is in North Carolina is flatout wrong. Duke is a private school and rarely do kids from North Carolina want to go to school there let alone play football. Look at the roster for any Duke sport and you will see very few kids from North Carolina on any of them.

He's a Florida legend already and could be the same at South Carolina. Alabama hasn't been relevant nationally in almost 15 years. They are a middle of the pack SEC team...just because Tom Berenger coached them decades ago does not mean they should automatically be viewed as a premiere program now. In the West, it is LSU and Auburn and then a revolving door of scrubs. Get used to it.

Oh, and to whoever said Tressel, Carroll, etc. only won because they had superior players...um...Tressel won 4 national championships in I-AA. Superior players!?

Connect With Me

Quickish

About This Blog

DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.